Transcript: Dr. Scott Gottlieb on "Face the Nation," Oct. 23, 2022
The following is a transcript of an interview with Dr. Scott Gottlieb, former FDA commissioner and a member of the Pfizer board, that aired Sunday, Oct. 23, 2022, on "Face the Nation."
MARGARET BRENNAN: And we turn now to former FDA commissioner, Pfizer board member Dr. Scott Gottlieb. Dr. Gottlieb, it is great to see you, but I have other tough issues to ask you about including the surge in respiratory infections among children in 33 states. Now, we're seeing some pediatric units overwhelmed. Why is this happening? And why is it having such a powerful impact?
DR. SCOTT GOTTLIEB: Well, look, we're seeing a surge right now in respiratory syncytial virus. This is a virus that we typically see in the late winter, we started to see cases in the summertime and we're seeing a peak in cases right now. This is not unlike the season last year, where we also saw an early peak in those cases. Some people ascribe it to the fact that children have been somewhat removed from the circulating pathogen, so you don't have as much immunity in the population generally. So it's changed the typical cycle for this virus and we've seen these waves of infection from RSV earlier in the season that we would normally see. For most people, this is a self-limiting infection. It's an upper respiratory infection that causes cold-like symptoms but for children under the age of two, it can be a serious infection. And it's especially concerning for those who are immunocompromised, children who are immunocompromised, or those in the neonatal intensive care unit, as well as older adults, elderly Americans or people who have other kinds of conditions that put them at risk.
MARGARET BRENNAN: So this is happening, you have flu season coming, and we have COVID ticking up. The White House says everyone needs to go out and get their COVID booster by Halloween. Do you agree with that timeline? And how do you protect yourself against all of these respiratory risks?
DR. GOTTLIEB: Well look, I think now's a prudent time to not just get the COVID booster, the new bivalent vaccine, but also the flu vaccine. Right now, we have flu cases picking up, it looks like this may be a more aggressive flu season. The predominant strain right now is H3N2 and the vaccine appears to be a good match for the strain. So the vaccine, based on what we see right now, based on the genetic sequence of the strain that's circulating and the antigen that is in the vaccine, does suggest that the vaccine is going to be quite protective of season so it's a good time to get it. I think in terms of just protecting yourselves, it's just the normal things that we advise people to do, wash your hands, try to avoid crowded spaces if you are someone who's at risk. If you don't feel well, stay home, don't send a child to school if they're not feeling well so you don't expose others to an infection, all the things that we've learned to do to just--
MARGARET BRENNAN: Wear a mask?
DR. GOTTLIEB: Well look, I think if you're someone who is at-risk or someone who wants to take extra precaution, one-way masking we know does work if you're going to wear a high-quality mask. I don't think people are going to be generally wearing them right now. But I think for people who are at risk, who want extra- an extra measure of protection, that's another step that can help afford in that. The one thing- the final thing I'll say is that, you know, for parents who have children who have an upper respiratory infection, many times, testing them finding out is not COVID and feeling relieved. I think they still need to be vigilant that it could be RSV, it could be early flu. So if you see progressive symptoms, seek out help from a doctor. There are treatments that are available that could help children with RSV.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Noted. It is election season and I want to ask you about a false claim about COVID vaccines that really hit the campaign trail and it's been in conservative circles, in particular. Under U.S. law, just to be clear, the CDC does not mandate vaccines, as we've talked about here before, the state governors have the authority to do that. Can you explain what the CDC advisors actually did last week?
DR. GOTTLIEB: Yeah, well this week they took the recommendation that already existed for children to get vaccinated with the COVID vaccine, which was their general recommendation issued last year, and they incorporated it into their formal recommendations, which are their permanent recommendations. Some people refer to it as their vaccine schedule. That doesn't translate into state mandates. There are a lot of vaccines in that schedule. For example, the flu vaccine is in that schedule. They recommend that to children, no states mandate that. The HPV vaccine is in the schedule, only two states mandate the HPV vaccine for children to attend school, Virginia and Rhode Island. Even the dengue fever vaccine is in the schedule and obviously no states mandate the use of that. So what got started on Twitter initially was that the CDC recommendations automatically translate into state mandates, which is not true. One of the reasons why the CDC went ahead and made this formal recommendation is that it also allows the vaccines to be incorporated into the vaccines for children's program which provides federal funding for indigent kids to get access to vaccines and so as part of the impetus, but there will be no state mandates. Quite frankly, I don't think there should be state mandates. I don't think we're at the point right now where we should be considering mandating this vaccine as a condition to attend school. While I think every child should seek out this vaccine, parents should strongly consider vaccinating their kids, I don't think it should be mandated by states and I wouldn't expect to see any state mandating this vaccine.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Thank you for your clarity on that because the misinformation you just said started on Twitter, Tucker Carlson amplified it, but as we just showed our viewers, you see a number of candidates and sitting governors spreading this. You have presidential candidate, potentially, Mike Pompeo; you have the governor of Virginia; the governor of Utah; Senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas; the GOP candidate for governor of Arizona, Kari Lake. They're all putting out tweets with this false idea. So there's clearly a political force in an anti-vaccine sentiment.
DR. GOTTLIEB: Well, I look, I think from a public health standpoint, the more that this becomes a political matter, and more people make this a political matter, that campaign against mandates, bleeds into a campaign against the vaccine itself and people generally don't take away the nuance of those messages, if there is any nuance in those messages in the first place. They hear the skepticism against the vaccine, and then they're less likely to consider it for themselves, even where it makes sense from a clinical standpoint. I didn't see a lot of people stepping up and saying, 'Look, my state won't mandate the vaccine. We believe these are decisions that should be left to pediatricians and parents. But I would strongly encourage parents to make sure that their children are up to date with all the available vaccines, especially in advance of this, you know, flu and COVID season.' That would have been an appropriate message in my view for a governor to say- who wanted to say 'Look, we're not going to mandate it but we still think it's important.' I- the closest I saw anyone coming to that with Spencer Cox in Utah.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Yeah. And- and to be clear, the CDC wasn't as clear as they could have been either, so that's why we wanted you to translate that for our viewers today. Dr. Gottlieb. I have to leave it there. So good to see you again. We'll be right back with a lot more faith in the nation. Stay with us.